Please Tell Me You Love Me - Asie Payton, Payton, Asie
Asie's Jam
Can't Be Satisfied
All I Need Is You
Come Home with You
Skinny Legs and All
I Love You (Solo)
Worried captures a 10-spot of the visceral Delta blues of the late Asie Payton, impoverished farmer and second-generation weekend country-grocery musician. The crew at Oxford, Mississippi-based Fat Possum Records intended ... more »to use these sessions as demo tapes to spark interest, yet they were unable to woo the gifted Payton from his tractor, on which he suffered a heart attack in the spring of 1997. Recorded at Junior Kimbrough's club, "Come Home with me" and "Skinny Legs & All" recall the lusty heat and wobbly cock-of-the-walk pride (minus the lewdness) of label-mate R.L. Burnside. Yet, as he spells out on the trippy progressive blues, "Asie's Jam," Payton's soulful herky-jerky guitar and ragged voice communicate from a place born of hardship, depth, and reckoned gentleness. In the spirit and tradition of Othar Turner's Everybody Hollerin' Goat, Worried becomes not a pity party at Payton's grave, but a celebration. From the top, his wide-open strum kicks off with Sam Carr's gorgeously ramshackle ass-wigglin' drumming, and "I Love You" soars and pops like a bottle rocket bearing a message of good will. --Paige La Grone« less
Worried captures a 10-spot of the visceral Delta blues of the late Asie Payton, impoverished farmer and second-generation weekend country-grocery musician. The crew at Oxford, Mississippi-based Fat Possum Records intended to use these sessions as demo tapes to spark interest, yet they were unable to woo the gifted Payton from his tractor, on which he suffered a heart attack in the spring of 1997. Recorded at Junior Kimbrough's club, "Come Home with me" and "Skinny Legs & All" recall the lusty heat and wobbly cock-of-the-walk pride (minus the lewdness) of label-mate R.L. Burnside. Yet, as he spells out on the trippy progressive blues, "Asie's Jam," Payton's soulful herky-jerky guitar and ragged voice communicate from a place born of hardship, depth, and reckoned gentleness. In the spirit and tradition of Othar Turner's Everybody Hollerin' Goat, Worried becomes not a pity party at Payton's grave, but a celebration. From the top, his wide-open strum kicks off with Sam Carr's gorgeously ramshackle ass-wigglin' drumming, and "I Love You" soars and pops like a bottle rocket bearing a message of good will. --Paige La Grone
D. Mauer | Los Angeles, CA United States | 09/21/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I love this record.Everyone who I have bought a copy of this for also loves it. Yes, Asie died two years before it ever came out, and that is a shame. But he did more than most of us ever will; there's just ten songs here, and 2 of them are "remixes" (addition of some deep bass, effects and such. It actually works really well. Who'd have guessed?!) So these eight songs are what makes up Asie Payton's legacy. It's more than enough. Asie wails, moans, and plays and MAKES you understand why the mostly unknown - well face it - mostly FAT POSSUM artists - are TEN TIMES BETTER than whatever blues record is selling thousands of copies; and I don't care if it IS B.B. King and Eric Clapton - THIS stuff is better. After you get convinced, do yourself a real favor. Check out the other Fat Possum wonders: Scott Dunbar (Like Asie, the only album he ever made. Like Asie, it's absolutely KILLER), Johnny Farmer (I believe Farmer is still alive, though I understand he is not well enough to make more records), T-Model Ford's first album, Junior Kimbrough's first three records, and the amazing Robert Belfour who played the House of Blues in LA a few months ago, and made me want to weep he was so good. Get this stuff. You won't know how much you needed it until you hear it."
Buy this CD before it is unavailable!
Richard L. Hubbell | Nashville | 07/28/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Fat Possum Records does a wonderful job as curator of lost music. Mr. Payton was recorded in only two sessions. He died not long after, taking his immeasureable talent to the grave. If not for this compilation, this world would be much poorer. Mr. Payton's blues are on par with any artist I have heard. Honest, arresting, and wrapped in emotion, his works deserve a spot in the pantheon alongside the other greats."
A tractor driver genius
TB | Ankara, Turkey | 04/26/2003
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I give this CD only 4 stars simply because it runs 33 minutes. Asie's story is quite incredible; the tracks from this CD were recorded in two sessions, one of which was recorded in a car parts store. They've been mixed and produced and the result is that Fat Possum/R.L Burnside sound of down home, simple yet heartfelt blues. Asie's has more class however; his voice carries more emotion and his sound has more variety compared to say, Burnside or Junior Kimbrough. Overall, if you like these "new found" artists; Asie is one of the best. He apparently was never discovered or rewarded for his talents but he obviously had it. This is very, very good CD."
First class rural blues
TB | 10/26/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The 7 tracks on this CD (plus the 2 remixes) constitute the legacy of Asie Payton and there's no doubt that this is Mississippi Hills blues at its best. Accompanied by a drummer on some numbers, Payton keeps it plain and simple yet his singing and playing goes straight to the heart. Overall, this CD is an important musical document showing that not only Delta blues came out of Mississippi. I don't understand, however, why Fat Possum failed to include the undubbed and unmixed version of "Asie's Jam." They can remix all they want to as long as they also give purists like me the original tracks."